Releasable socket connector



3! 1965 E. T. SALZ, SR 3,182,231

RELEASABLE SOCKET CONNECTOR Filed Dec. 31, 1962 INVENTOR. 'aK m/ 7." 5442 United States Patent 3,182,281 RELEASABLE SOCKET CONNECTOR Edwin T. Salz, Sr., Redding, Conn., assignor to Burndy Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 31, 1962, Ser. No. 248,613 2 Claims. (Cl. 339-95) My invention relates to an electrical socket for releastably receiving a pin contact to form a separable electrical connection.

Hitherto such connections when made, required a pull of predetermined force to separate the mating parts, or when a positive lock was provided, a tool was needed to effectuate a separation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-locking pin and socket connector which may be separated without special tools and with a minimum withdrawal force.

Other objects are to provide a socket contact of this type which may be made of sheet metal, and to provide simple mean-s for aligning and limiting the extent of insertion of the pin contact in the socket.

These and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be made more apparent by reference to the socket contact described in the following specification, particularly pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a socket connector embodying this invention; and

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the connector, with an inserted pin conductor and the deflected position of the novel releasable locking means shown in dot-dash lines.

Refer-ring now in greater detail to the drawing, reference numeral designates generally a socket contact of tubular form which can be made of sheet metal having a uniform thickness. The transverse end wall 12 of the tubular contact body is perforated as at 13 to provide an entrance for the pin contact 14 shown in dot-dash lines in FIGURE 2.

The upper part of the end wall 13 is shaped to provide a neck portion 16 having a reversely bent 'end portion 18 terminating in a pair of laterally extending arms 20 and 22 which extend longitudinally toward the front of the contact. The arms are preferably disposed as close to the body as is possible in order to maintain minimum overall width. They may be provided with inwardly extending finger pieces 21 and 23 to facilitate manipulation from the front of the socket body.

End portion 18 is shaped, and is normally resiliently biased into position, to partially block the entrance of the pin contact 14 through aperture 13. However, the froward or inner surface of the end portion is tangentially positioned with respect to the aperture and to the rounded end 19 of the inserted pin to act as a camming surface resiliently movable in hinge or pivot fashion about neck 16. Thus, when the inner surface of the end portion 18 is engaged by the rounded end of the axially inserted pin 14, it is deflected upwardly out of position to permit the pin to move further into the socket.

The edge 24 of the end portion 18 rides on the pin during its inward movement, and due to its angular contacting position, engages the pin surface in scraping relation under action of the springy neck portion 16 to efiectively resist accidental withdrawal. Thus, insertion of the pin will cause the deflected end portion 18 to lock the pin automatically against withdrawal, at the edge 24, when in the position 18w (see FIG. 2). Upon insertion of the pin, arm 20 will similarly deflect downwardly to the dot-dash position 20a. When it is desired to release the edge 24 from locking engagement with the pin contact, either or both of the arms 20 and 22 may be further slightly deflected manually a distance sufficient to tilt end portion 18 upward and way from the pin surface. 1

The pin is aligned in the proper inserted position by a guide 26 which may be merely a dimple or a resilient saddle, as shown, formed in the lower wall of the socket by upsetting an integral tongue into the desired shape. The guide holds the pin conductor in position against the resiliently acting end portion 18, and thus acts as an additional pin retaining means in addition to serving to provide positive electrical contact between the two parts.

Similarly, a stop 28 for the pin 14 may be provided by slotting the metal at a suitable point in the lower wall to form an integral tongue, and upsetting the tongue into upstanding position in the path of the inserted pin.

The socket contact 10 may be provided with a hollow, indentable body portion 30 for receiving a wire conductor, not shown, and a compressible insulation shroud 32 of similar and conventional design.

The foregoing construction provides a readily detachable pin and socket connection that may be manually released without tools,

The socket contact may be made of a unitary piece of sheet metal rolled into tubular form, wherein the edges of the sheet form the seam 34, or it may be formed of a combination of sheet metal and seamless tubing.

The construction provides a novel pin engaging means which, in combination with the described support and stop means, forms a simple method of fixing the pin conductor in position.

I have thus described my invention but desire it understood that it is not confined to the particular form or usages shown and described, the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of the invention; and therefore, I claim broadly the right to employ all equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, and by means of which objects of this invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments herein shown and described are only some of the many that can be employed to obtain these objects and accomplish these results.

I claim:

1. A socket connector for receiving a pin conductor therein, comprising:

a longitudinally extending base portion of conductive metal having a forward end and a rearward end;

an integrally formed front entrance portion extending substantially perpendicularly from said base portion at said forward end and having an opening therethrough for permitting axial insertion of a pin conductor substantially parallel to said base in a rearward direction;

an integrally formed resilient deflecting portion extending rearwardly from said front entrance portion and inwardly at an angle to said base portion in position to resiliently engage a pin inserted through said front entrance portion opening;

said deflecting portion having a free edge sub-portion adapted to engage the surface of an inserted pin conductor in scraping relation to resist withdrawal of said pin through said opening;

an integrally formed'stop portion extending in spaced relation to said front entrance portion to limit the axial movement of a pin conductor inserted through said opening;

an integrally formed alignment guide strip extending from said base portion and having a support surface disposed substantially parallel to the surface of a pin conductor inserted through said opening for aligning and supporting said pin relative to said deflecting portion;

release means on said deflecting portion including an extending lever arm accessible forwardly of said entrance portion for permitting manual deflection thereof to release said pin conductor; and

integrally formed means for electrically securing an external conductor to said socket connector.

2. The socket connector of claim 1 wherein said means for electrically securing an external conductor to said socket comprises an integral, tubularly formed deformable barrel portion extending substantially rearwardly from said base portion and adapted to receive and to be mechanically and electrically secured to an external conductor by deformation such as crimping.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain.

JOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SOCKET CONNECTOR FOR RECEIVING A PIN CONDUCTOR THEREIN, COMPRISING: A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING BASE PORTION OF CONDUCTIVE METAL HAVING A FORWARD END AND A REARWARD END; AN INTEGRALLY FORMED FRONT ENTRANCE PORTION EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULARLY FROM SAID BASE PORTION AT SAID FORWARD END AND HAVING AN OPENING THERETHRUGH FOR PERMITTING AXIAL INSERTION OF A PIN CONDUCTOR SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID BASE IN A REARWARD DIRECTION; AN INTEGRALLY FORMED RESILIENT DEFLECTING PORTION EXTENDING REARWARDLY FROM SAID FRONT ENTRANCE PORTION AND INWARDLY AT AN ANGLE TO SAID BASE PORTION IN POSITION TO RESILIENTLY ENGAGE A PIN INSERTED THROUGH SAID FRONT ENTRANCE PORTION OPENING; SAID DEFLECTING PORTION HAVING A FREE EDGE SUB-PORTION ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE SURFACE OF AN INSERTED PIN CONDUCTOR IN SCRAPING RELATION TO RESIST WITHDRAWAL OF SAID PIN THROUGH SAID OPENING; AN INTEGRALLY FORMED STOP PORTION EXTENDING IN SPACED RELATION TO SAID FRONT ENTRANCE PORTION TO LIMIT THE AXIAL MOVEMENT OF A PIN CONDUCTOR INSERTED THROUGH SAID OPENING; AN INTEGRALLY FORMED ALGINMENT GUIDE STRIP EXTENDING FROM SAID BASE PORTION AND HAVING A SUPPORT SURFACE DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE SURFACE OF A PIN CONDUCTOR INSERTED THROUGH SAID OPENING FOR ALIGNING AND SUPPORTING SAID PIN RELATIVE TO SAID DEFLECTING PORTION; RELEASE MEANS ON SAID DEFLECTING PORTION INCLUDING A EXTENDING LEVER ARM ACCESSIBLE FORWARDLY OF SAID ENTRANCE PORTION FOR PERMITTING MANUAL DEFLECTION THEREOF TO RELEASE SAID PIN CONDUCTOR; AND INTEGRALLY FORMED MEANS FOR ELECTRICALLY SECURING AN EXTERNAL CONDUCTOR TO SAID SOCKET CONNECTOR. 